Uncover Your Family Roots at the Polk County History Center
October is Family History Month. However, the Polk County History Center’s Historical and Genealogical Library works year-round to help residents and visitors solve their family history mysteries.
The Historical and Genealogical Library is located on the second floor of the History Center. It is a non-circulating library, meaning that visitors cannot check out resources or take them home. However, visitors still have a myriad of resources available at no cost to them to help them dig into their family history during the library’s operating hours.
Free Genealogy Resources Available in Bartow, Florida
These resources include: microfilm and microfilm readers, magazines, yearbooks, family files on families who have lived in Polk County, census records, and voter registration books, as well as a computer lab with access to Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com.
Patrons visit the library, bringing their questions, queries, and family ancestry puzzles to the Historical and Genealogical Library to take advantage of the available tools.
Common Family History Questions Answered
- Where are my ancestors buried in Polk County?
- What was the maiden name of my female ancestor?
- What’s the deed history of my property?
Research and Genealogy Historian Shannon Graham shares a few of her favorite queries and ancestry adventures from library patrons:
“I get a lot of questions about where people are buried,” said Graham. “People who live in historic homes are interested in learning more about their properties.”
History Center staff also help patrons who are researching their family history but have hit a “brick wall.”
What are Brick Walls in Genealogy Research?
In genealogy research, a “brick wall” refers to a missing piece of information that has proven difficult for a researcher to find and is impeding any further research on a family line.
“In one situation, we had a patron visit the library because she was trying to trace her family line through one of her great-grandmothers, but she had gotten stuck. She only had the great-grandmother’s married surname and had not been able to determine her maiden name, despite having looked everywhere she could,” said Graham. “In that situation, the library was able to point her in the right direction with our resources such as FamilySearch and Ancestry.com.”
“It’s really rewarding when we’re able to help someone find the answer to a question that has been in the back of their mind for years.”
Why Does My Family History Matter Today?
“A lot of people think their family history doesn’t apply to them in the present day,” Graham says. “However, it’s important to realize where your family came from. It’s not until you start looking that you realize that your ancestors’ decisions from 100 years ago still impact you today.”
Graham encourages new Polk County residents to dig into their family history and find how they can identify with their community. One History Center volunteer, originally from New York, traced her lineage back to a Nobel Prize winner and now spends time helping library visitors uncover surprises in their ancestry as well.
“It can seem overwhelming to start,” Graham says. “Everyone has a different approach. Some people take it by record type – checking census records, marriage records, etc. There is no specific way to go about it.”
Expanding Your Research Beyond Polk County
The vault of information is not only limited to the history of Polk County – family researchers can come to the History Center to trace their family roots through the southeastern United States and as far north as New Jersey, New York, and Maryland.
Learn From Experts: The Genealogy Speaker Series
In addition to access to digital and printed resources, the Polk County History Center and Genealogical Library offers the Genealogy Speaker Series. This series of one-hour webinars takes place on the last Saturday of the month from January to October. Speakers are typically certified in genealogical research and have expert knowledge on a wide variety of topics.
If you want to acknowledge Family History Month by diving into your ancestry, you can begin by visiting the Polk County History Center and Genealogical Library at 100 E. Main St. in Bartow, Florida.